From "Frankenstein" to "Black Mirror:" Teaching Sociotechnical Ethics Using Popular Culture

• In Event: STS Pedagogy – Methods for Teaching Sociotechnical Ethics

Abstract

This paper offers a discussion of pedagogical techniques, drawn from the authors’ course titled “Popular Culture and Technology,” for teaching technology ethics that engages students through the use of popular culture texts. The course makes use of Jasanoff and Kim's (2015) concept of sociotechnical imaginaries as a critical component to theorize the connection between popular culture texts, sociotechnical ethics, and the production of ethically based arguments in favor for situated technological developments. We theorize that popular culture texts (such as films, television shows, novels, video games, and so on) play a significant role in sociotechnical imaginaries that shape what both experts and non-expert citizens envision both could and should happen in the future. Such texts provide spaces for anxieties and hopes and their associated consequences to be explored and communicated amongst different types of social actors. These texts influence our ideas about what kind of technological development should or should not happen, how such development should occur, and what pitfalls we should try to avoid. We argue that exploring the connection between these texts and sociotechnical ethics allows students a space not only to speculate about how the world should or should not be shaped, but also reflect on the speculation of others and thus understand one way in which ethics are formed. Students are able to identify the ways in which these texts can then be used to structure imaginaries that range from cautionary to optimistic and then build compelling arguments grounded by overarching ethical paradigms.

Authors

• Jennifer Terrell, Indiana University

• Iris Bull, Indiana University - Bloomington